This is an interesting look back at shopping culture at the time. Malls were still a new concept then, and the big events held at them were obviously popular judging by the turnouts seen in this video.
The giant animated toys are wild. You don't see stuff like that much anymore.

Northland (1953) and Eastland (1958) were bigger and architecturally way more imposing than this - but they served a huge metropolitan area (Detroit). Interestingly there were also modern sculptures of various types, very similar to those seen here at both of those shopping centers. Those outdoor shopping centers were way more pleasant - even in winter with howling winds and blowing snow. Enclosed malls attract local teenagers and (more lately) not-so-local teenagers; the unenclosed centers didn't seem to attract hoodlums.
Very long dragged out film - one wonders who this was made for??

Why is it all so damn tacky?! Can't imagine growing up in that time period. The huge mechanical statues are scary.

Dodsworth the cat's right, and thanks for ID'ing 1150, I have this on a colleciton someone sent...open air centers DO still exist, and NOT just those "outlet ones", thier! Newport Beach< Calif;'s, Fashion island [1967], and really one of the last of the really creative old ones, stilll exists in its ORIGIAL open air state...but has itself changed a lot.
And buying a kid NOW a bow and arrow..why, a parent just MIGHT get an arraow lodged in their head, even if it's rubber...

The reason the music sounds like Gumby is because the Capitol Production Library is being used. (Two cues remain unidentified, including a Hawaiian one used at Hanna-Barbera).
0:00 , C-42 Mechanical Main Title (Loose),
0:32 , C-37 Light Mechanical (Loose),
2:23 , C-10 Domestic Suburban (Loose).
3:29 , C-11 Domestic Suburban (Loose).
3:53 , C-12 Domestic Lite aka Fashion Fox Trot (Loose).
5:23 , C-6 Domestic Children (Loose).
7:39 , C-5 Domestic Children (Loose).
10:05 , L-1130 Animation Children (Spencer Moore), which was featured on TV commercials in the '60s.
10:18 , C-94 Documentary Inspirational Underscore (Loose).
12:15 , C-9 Domestic Suburban (Loose).
13:02 , C-34 Light Mechanical (Loose).
13:42 , C-4 Domestic Children (Loose).
15:26 , C-22 Light Activity (Loose);
16:42 to end, C-42B Mechanical End Title (Loose).
Can you imagine a mall today giving kids a bow and arrow?

Sure this promo is cheesy and kinda creepy. But I grew up making the occasional trip to Hillsdale a few years after this was made, and it was wonderful. The Bufanos were like old friends--each sitting on a dias surrounded by boxwood hedges. We saw the Mother Mary sculpture whenever we went to the SF airport, too. Wonderfully tactile granite and basalt sculptures, kid-friendly.
Hillsdale also put on a great Christmas show. Little magical boothes with clockwork elves skating, making toys, etc. Hard to believe NOW, but that was high-tech stuff back in the day!
Stanford Shopping Center was another open-air mall from this era, and it has changed significantly. And remember, people, as you're ridiculing this stuff--Mummy may have dragged you to the mall, but she did it significantly less than now, and she bought FAR LESS STUFF--credit cards were new and weird, and most used cash-- when they had it. A purchase was considered carefully and never casually.
Those days were wretched in many ways (Mother made us wear our white gloves to church and when traveling! and our petticoats itched), but I can't help feeling a whisp of nostalgia seeing this--our arrogant jadedness hadn't yet creeped into the national discourse, and Vietnam--despite Bufano, who believed in everlasting peace--was winnable before Christmas. Sigh...

Fascinatingly cheap film made to showcase the Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo California. filled with much out of focus shots, bad lettering, and bad profile shots. I just wonder if the shopping center god all it paid for this. Some notes..
Funny how we never get to go into any of the stores except the 'Farmer's Market' which isn't a Farmer's Market, but more or less a standard supermarket. Managers of departments all of a sudden become 'specialists'.. LOVE the overembellishment of the food fair.
The film then talks about the special days it has.. LOVE the lettering on thsee (I said that already).
The Easter exhibit was there to "entertain the youngsters and to give mother more freedom in her shopping". So, yes, ditch the kids to hit the sales in other words.
'Armed Forces Day' featured um, a hula dancer who supposedly entertained the troops. that's all that was said, nothing else. Very odd.
And on and on it goes, from trout fishing tanks with 'Free Memberships" crossed out, to flag displays which featured flags folded over because of the wind to finally, Macy's tree of lights which was "the focal point from the highway".
Shopping can be fun? Maybe someplace else, nevertheless I really enjoyed this film. Reccomended!

I made a video CD of this some months ago and left my player on endless loop so it played over and over. Shopping can be fun is absolutely numbing.
I love the audio which sounds like a mix of a "calling all cars" police bulletin set to Gumby music. That combination is so one of a kind and nutty. And the stuff they show! "Dad's a Doll" or the "Temporary home of Mr.and Mrs. Easter Bunny". The Bufano Statuary, The biggest toys in the whole wide world! I guess this celebrates the peak of when America worked best..no graffiti, no death metal, no booming rap music, no counterculture.
Can you imagine looking forward to the Hillsdale travel show as the highlight of your week?

Before the enclosed indoor shopping mall became standard, 1950's and early 60's suburban sprawl produced these pedestrian outdoor malls all over California. I think most were later converted to enclosed malls. This promotional film looks pretty cookie-cutter, as if made from a "your name here" script. The only thing unique about this mall seems to be the specially commissioned sculptures. Otherwise it's just the promotions and shows that made all these malls look the same. But I do like the spring "fashions for the entire family" show with only 18 to 25 year-old blond females.

A decent PR piece for the Hillsdale Shopping Center, which is still in operation along El Camino Real in San Mateo, California. MAcy's & Sears are still there, but otherwise, many of the stores & other features of the mall are long-gone, though I'll have to look carefully next time I'm there for the animal sculptures featured in the footage.